Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant

yes, and the country's output actually increased in that period as people did their best for their country

I remember going round turning off one fluorescent tube in 3, but when it was a fitting of 4 we turned off 2, giving us 50% saving. Months after that was rescinded we still hadnt put things back as they were as we had grown used to it.

The problem is that now, when you look at government buildings in the UK they still have all their lights on in the middle of the night. Some fotog took foto's last year or year before proving it from a helicopter.

so is Jerez still burning ??


`

No, not short memories - we were actually there, took part in it all, unlike those who were still wearing short pants at the time and only know the little they know from reading wiki etc.

Your "friend" Sunny Jim tried to be everyone's friend, wanted to have the unions round for sarnies as did his predecessor Harold Wilson.
That left the country desititute, borrowing at sky high levels. That has been the continuing theme in the transfer from Labour to Tory government over the past 100 years.


So why is Jerez burning ? ? ?

`

very true

People are setting fire to the rubbish, partly in protest, partly to get rid of it and partly because it's a health risk as I understand it.

but I thought there was an agreement.
and it gets us back on thread about Jerez, instead of whittering on about Thatcher/Callaghan/Wilson etc etc which are nothing to do with it, even though I did post London had a similar problem decades ago, it was stated as not being relevent, although we all know Spain is generally accepted by the Spanish to be 30 years behind the times.

It is a sad thing that affairs have to come to this point, especially when a govt dept actually rescinds a legal contract without understanding the health aspects of their actions. They have a duty to the public who pay their wages and the contract.

`

We have a couple of huge warehouse type Ferreterias close by that opened up just before the crisis.
I was in both this week, the shelves were half empty, the staff were miserable and appeared almost suicidal, from what I could see of then that is.

Half the lights had been shut down altogether, the others were so dim I could hardly see a damned thing.

If I go back in next week I'll be taking a flashlight with me to help find what I'm looking for.

Loving the support for Thatcher!

OK, I was only four when Thatcher got in but I can still read history books (Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain is very good). And checking the facts online is more reliable than human memory - as proved by whoever said that there was no unemployment on her watch!

The strike is over, the workers are on double shifts to clear up the backlog and the burning has stopped.

Urbaser will probably just not fill vacant posts and let the number of staff run down gradually rather than sacking 125 workers - so the people of Jerez will suffer in the long run because there will be a reduction in service.

but it will be orchestrated by the council reducing the amount they will pay for the work.
this should mean the main elements of refuse collection should remain the same, its the extras that will go by the board.

Outsourcing can sometimes work, and makes the councils look "lean and mean" but really all they are doing is transferring the admin etc onto another organisation, it still has to be paid for, some members of the public refusing to understand this doesn't help.

`

3 years ago back in the UK a small parade of shops near our vets has a small newsagents cum general store, there the fluorescent tubes had been turned off so instead of 4 per unit there was only one. A sign of the times that even back then the asian couple that run it were having difficulty in paying the electricity, especially when they stopped stocking frozen food and turned the freezers off.

`

But it was a reduction in the amount the council pays Urbaser (30% I think, €1.5 million a year) that kicked off the whole affair. They were going to pass all of this cut onto staffing costs, but now because of the strike they are having to bear some of the cost from their profits. Which is only fair, don't you think?

So in future in order to restore their profitability they will not replace people who leave, and cut the level of service to the bare bones of their contract.

At least their employees are getting paid though, there are some places where dustmen are employed directly by the council and they haven't been paid for months!

I believe she has quite a lot of support, not everyone looks at Politics with one eye closed.

Lots of support. Cometh the hour, cometh the Iron Lady.

She came along just when desperately needed, when the unions were trying to overthrow the democratically elected govt.
The country stupidly failed to back Heath when he made a similar stand in the 70s and paid for it, but little doubt people had decided enough was enough by the time Maggie came along.

She was the only one with the balls to bring the country back into the real world and did a great job during her first term of straightening out the main problems.
Just a shame she lost the plot during her second term, became a tad dictatorial and totally ignored any well meaning good advice from the rest of her own party.

Apologies for losing the plot myself ,supposed to be about Jerez innit ?
Anyway good to see things are turning around and they're getting the place cleaned up.
Must have been down to all the bad press from B.E.